Week 41
Work
I experienced a very pointed reminder this week that “a prototype is worth a thousand meetings”. Frustrated with how much I was struggling to communicate a nuance in intent to a designer who thinks very visually, I stopped trying to explain, and giving feedback on his design (which wasn’t working) - and instead just designed a basic version of the thing I’d been trying to describe, annotating the ways in which it was different. They understood immediately how it was different, with the bonus of getting to start from a not-too-sh*tty-first draft they can iterate. Reflection: I normally steer clear of doing the thing because I don’t want to disempower or take learning opportunities away from people whose job it is to do the thing. But occasionally “showing the thing” is not just the fastest route to delivery, but also the shortest path to learning.
Another week, another Newcastle trip. I swear I’d barely travelled anywhere in the last two years, so all the train time has been a bit of a shock to the system. This week it was running some training. Reflection: I’d designed a session that was highly interactive, and which allowed them to work at their own pace, with different levels of stretch available in each exercise. It was a lot of fun for me, and they enjoyed it, and they’re putting the skills and knowledge into immediate practice in their jobs. Can’t ask for anything better than that.
Not all sunshine and roses. I believe in sharing early and often - and that if you wait until you have something you’re happy sharing, you’ve left it too long. But…this week I discovered where my floor on quality is for sh*tty first drafts, when I was asked to share something I was actually cringing about sharing. Reflection: It’s of no real consequence because there will be plenty of eyes on plenty of iterations. That’s the point really. Nonetheless it has been a while since I felt this so viscerally.
Home
Vaccinations - it’s that time of year. I’m surrounded by people coughing and sneezing, and the Slack channels seem to reveal another colleague downed by COVID each day. So I wasn’t sad to rock up for my COVID and flu jabs. But I was sad at the two sleepless nights I had immediately after - I’m a restless side-sleeper ::grimace::
I’ve been experiencing a really lovely vibe for the last couple of weekends. It’s like someone turned the dial right up on Autumn. Gorgeous tree colours; watching dramatic weather; pyjamas and bed socks on; mugs of hot chocolate; a stack of good books; a mood-setting playlist; snuggly quilt; candles. It feels so cosy, nourishing for the soul.